should I install WU 20H2 on my new laptop ..Im worried it will crash like my old one just did

[denyse1]

Its out of the box so I didnt do anything yet, Just being cautious because I just fried my other laptop last week doing the latest update for that one I think it was the 1906. This laptop is ready to install the feature update 20H2, but if this one does the same crash I cannot go out and get another. Please help Stressing w/out a computer for over a week I just want to make sure before I proceed. Thank you

[WAWood]

@denyse1 

Understand your nervousness about this -- and you have the good sense to ask here about it before charging into this.  Good idea!

My own advice is to strongly suggest you read the information below about making an image backup of your PC before trying ANY Windows Feature update.  Yes, they will work without issues most of the time, but the one time they do not and leave you with a nonbooting PC, is the one time you wished you had a backup to restore FROM.

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I personally prefer to use third-party Backup solutions as they tend to be both more flexible and more reliable than any built-in solutions.

Macrium Reflect (MR) provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

Plus, MR has the option to Add a Recovery Boot Menu entry. This allows you then to boot into WinRE, and you can then use that to do a restore -- when you can't boot into Windows!

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.

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Also, if you want help restoring the PC that crashed with the 1909 (not 1906) upgrade, then post a separate thread about that and I will respond to it.

[denyse1]

Thank-you WAWood for your response! I usually never ask these kinds of questions online because I'm really not tech savvy, so please have patience. I would just like to confirm your response before proceeding. First, when you say download (MR) am I doing that directly on my laptop or externally? Also I have a usb stick but it has some things on it.... not important, do you suggests to get a new one? and if so what size should I get? I did do a cloud image but if i understand correctly you don't think this is reliable or do you ? Last but not least Thank you for asking to help with the crashed laptop I would like to restore it if I can its only 3 years old and I can give it to my son if repaired. Your response was greatly appreciated and I look forward to hearing from you! denyse1

[WAWood]

@denyse1 

Let me try to answer your questions ...

1) downloading -- download MR to the PC that you want to backup

2) USB stick -- you need a stick with enough available room to hold about 1/2 of the used space on your laptop drive.  So, if this is a large USB stick (i.e., 256GB), there should be enough space, but if it were me, I would buy a new one of at least 64GB to ensure it had enough room.

3) Cloud image -- understand this is all the rage -- but harsh reality of using the Cloud PC backups is something folks ignore.  There first the issue of HOW do you boot your PC if the OS is corrupted? You certainly can not do that from the Cloud. Then there is the issue of how do you connect to the Cloud without a working PC?  Then there are the issues of time required -- a typical PC image is 20GB or more -- and even with fast Internet speed, you are looking at a LONG TIME to download something that size from the Cloud.  And finally, all your store in the Cloud is a file -- so even if you do download that file, HOW are you going to use it to then restore your PC?  See why using the Cloud for PC image backups is a really BAD idea?

4) Giving away the PC -- read this article I wrote if you really want to do that:  https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Knowledge-Base/Preparing-a-used-HP-notebook-for-resale/ta-p/...